Digital mental health in China: a systematic review.
Psychol Med
; 51(15): 2552-2570, 2021 Nov.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1510537
ABSTRACT
Mental health problems are highly prevalent in China; however, China's mental health services lack resources to deliver high-quality care to people in need. Digital mental health is a promising solution to this short-fall in view of the population's digital literacy. In this review, we aim to (i) investigate the effectiveness, acceptability, usability, and safety of digital health technologies (DHTs) for people with mental health problems in China; (ii) critically appraise the literature; and (iii) make recommendations for future research directions. The databases MEDLINE, PsycINFO, EMBASE, Web of Science, CNKI, WANFANG, and VIP were systemically searched for English and Chinese language articles evaluating DHTs for people with mental health problems in mainland China. Eligible studies were systematically reviewed. The heterogeneity of studies included precluded a meta-analysis. In total, 39 articles were retrieved, reporting on 32 DHTs for various mental health problems. Compared with the digital mental health field in the West, the Chinese studies targeted schizophrenia and substance use disorder more often and investigated social anxiety mediated by shame and culturally specific variants, DHTs were rarely developed in a co-production approach, and methodology quality was less rigorous. To our knowledge, this is the first systematic review focused on digital mental health in the Chinese context including studies published in both English and the Chinese language. DHTs were acceptable and usable among Chinese people with mental health problems in general, similar to findings from the West. Due to heterogeneity across studies and a paucity of robust control trial research, conclusions about the efficacy of DHTs are lacking.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Mental Health
/
Substance-Related Disorders
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Randomized controlled trials
/
Reviews
/
Systematic review/Meta Analysis
Topics:
Variants
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
Asia
Language:
English
Journal:
Psychol Med
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
S0033291721003731
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